Methods and systems for establishing identity confidence database

ABSTRACT

The invention provides various systems and methods for establishing an identity confidence scoring system. The method includes gathering identity information about the customers from physical locations and from remote locations. The method updates the identity profiles with the gathered identity information, and based on the gathered identity information, generates an identity confidence score associated with each identity profile.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This continuation application claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/428,348, filed on Apr. 22, 2009, entitled “METHODS ANDSYSTEMS FOR ESTABLISHING AN IDENTITY CONFIDENCE DATABASE”, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to identity verification, andmore particularly, to managing an identity database(s) and establishingan identity confidence scoring system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Presently, particularly in developing countries, identity verificationsystems are marginal at best. Often in developing countries residents donot have identification (ID) cards (e.g., driver's licenses, socialsecurity number (SSN) cards, military IDs, etc.) to verify identity.Furthermore, such countries typically lack banking or other financialnetworks established in order to adequately gather identificationinformation.

In addition, many laws and guidelines require financial and lendinginstitutions to “know your customer” (KYC) before entering intofinancial transactions. Hence, in these developing countries, withoutproper identification, entering into financial and other similartransactions becomes increasingly more difficult. Accordingly,improvements in the art are needed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to building confidence in acustomer's identity. As confidence in a customer's identity increases,the customer's options may be increased and the limitations decreased.Furthermore, based on the additional identity information received froma successful verification, an unsuccessful verification, or noverification attempt, the customer's identity confidence score may beupdated accordingly Hence, each piece of identity information, and eachtransaction may be utilized to maintain an accurate identity confidencescore for each customer.

The present invention provides a method for establishing an identityconfidence scoring system. The method includes gathering identityinformation about the customers from physical locations and from remotelocations. The method updates the identity profiles with the gatheredidentity information, and based on the gathered identity information,generates an identity confidence score associated with each identityprofile.

The present invention further provides a system for maintaining anidentity confidence scoring system. The system includes a host computerconfigured to process transactions for an account of a customer, capturetransaction data for each of the transactions, analyzing the transactiondata for each of the transactions, and use the analysis to identify thecustomer. The host computer is further configured to identifytransactions which exceed a transaction amount threshold. Based on oneof the transactions exceeding the threshold, a device receives averification request. The device then transmits a response to the hostcomputer providing proper verification, and the host computer updatesthe customer's identity confidence score based on the receiving of theresponse with the proper verification.

A further embodiment of the present invention provides amachine-readable medium for establishing an identity confidence scoringsystem. The machine-readable medium includes instructions for gatheringidentity information about the customers from physical locations andfrom remote locations. The machine-readable medium includes instructionsfor updating the identity profiles with the gathered identityinformation, and based on the gathered identity information, generatingan identity confidence score associated with each identity profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sublabel is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sublabel, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of managing an identityconfidence scoring system, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of utilization of anidentity confidence scoring system, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a system for managing an identityconfidence scoring system, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides various systems and methods for managing anidentity database(s) and establishing an identity confidence scoringsystem. Accurate identification of customers and recipients is of theutmost importance when dealing with financial transactions. In manyinstances, government and other restrictions and guidelines requireproper identification of customers and recipients before financialtransactions are allowed to occur. Accordingly, aspects of the presentinvention are directed at determining an identity confidence level foreach customer. Such a confidence score may be stored in a database, andas more identity information (e.g., the number of transactions, monetaryamount of the transactions, branch location identification verification,etc.) is gathered, the confidence score can be adjusted accordingly.

Such an identity confidence score may be generated based on acombination of identity sources. For example, information from thebanking system the customer utilized may be used, the customer'scellular telephone provider may be used, the customer's interactionswith agents at branch and agent locations may be used, etc. Ultimately,a wide variety of identity information sources may be used in order toprovide the most accurate representation of the identity of eachcustomer.

Further embodiments of the present invention relate to facilitatingdeveloping markets in establishing identity confidence for customersusing remote devices to enter into financial transactions. Particularly,where limited history of identity information is available aboutcustomers, the present invention provides a collection of suchinformation in an organized and usable fashion.

Turning now to FIG. 1, which illustrates a method 100 of managing anidentity confidence scoring system, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. At process block 105, an identity database storagemechanism may be created. Such a database may be implemented usingidentity profiles for each customer within the database. An identityprofile, for example, would include any identity information andtransaction information about each customer. For example, the customersname, address, telephone number, etc., as well as banking, utilities,cellular telephone information. Furthermore, the customer's transactionhistory may include the number of transactions, the frequency oftransactions, the monetary amount of each transaction, etc.

In one embodiment, the information gathered may be information thattypically is not gathered. For example, each instance that a customerentered into an agent location of a bank branch office (i.e., physicallocations), such information would be captured and input into thecustomer's identity profile. Essentially any usable identity informationsource can be utilized in order to generate a fuller, more accurateidentity profile for each customer.

Additional “physical locations” may include a cellular telephoneprovider office, other utilities office locations in which the customervisits, a government office, a convenience store, a shopping center, orany other location where the customer presents identification andengages in financial transactions. In most instances, when a customerenters, for example, a cellular telephone providers' office location,the customer is required to first provide proper identification. Forexample, a customer desiring to pay their bill would first need toidentify the account they wish to pay, and verify that they are theaccount owner (or other representative). Such identity information wouldbe collected and used to update the customer's identity profile (processblock 110). For example, if the customer presented an ID, the ID wasverified, and then the customer paid their bill with a stored valuecard, all of that information would be collected and used to update thecustomer's identity profile. In one embodiment, the ID presented may bea government issued ID. In one embodiment, some or all of theinformation collected about the customer(s) may be utilized to establishan identity confidence score.

In one embodiment, the type of ID presented as well as the type of thelocation in which the customer is presenting the ID have an effect onthe identity confidence score assigned to the customer. For example, ifthe customer is presenting a government issued ID at a bank branchoffice, and the bank verifies the identity of the customer, then thecustomer would be given a significant “score increase.” This is due tothe fact that the reliability of the government ID and the banks'“trustworthiness” is high. Conversely, if the customer enters a gasstation or convenience store and presents a university ID, the increasein the customer's confidence score would be significantly less, due tothe fact that the gas stations is much less reliable than a bank, andthe university ID is much less reliable than a government ID.

In a further embodiment, the frequency of transactions also effect thecustomer's identity confidence score. For example, if the customertransfers funds (even a small amount) to a relative via wire transferweekly for 12 months, then such activity would increase the customer'sidentity confidence score. Alternatively, if the customer ceases to makeany transfers and/or transactions for the next 6 months, then theconfidence in the customer's identity would begin to decrease.Furthermore, occurrences charge-backs, fraudulent transactions, failedidentity verifications, etc. can effect the identity confidence score ofthe customer. Hence, the confidence in a customer's identity isdynamically updated as more information (both positive and negative)regarding the customer's identity is gathered.

In developing countries, in particular, credit rating in many cases isof less importance than confidence in an individual's identity. Forexample, a micro lender may not be concerned with how much financialbacking the customer has for the microloan, but may be more concernedwith being sure that the lender knows exactly as to whom they arelending money to, and if they person is really who they claim to be.Hence, even if the customer does not have a credit rating or score, thelender may still be comfortable lending the customer money if thecustomer has a high “identity confidence score.”

In a further example, the customer enters a money transfer agentlocation to request a money transfer. The agent working would requestfrom the customer: ID, a money transfer amount, a recipient, etc. Theagent would then generate a report or the like detailing the informationgathered during the transaction. Subsequently the information could betransmitted to the identity confidence database, and used to update thecustomer's profile. In one embodiment, if the individual entering theagent location is a new customer, then a new customer profile may begenerated. Other such “physical locations” may include in-linetransactions, point-of-sale (POS) device transactions, bank branchlocations, etc.

Furthermore, as the customer's identity profile becomes more “complete”with more history and transaction, as well as additional identityverifications, the customer may be granted more rights with fewerrestrictions. For example, after five money transfer transactions at anagent location with proper identity verification, the customer is ableto execute “remote location” transactions. In one embodiment, a “remotelocation” may include a transaction from a website, or the like, amobile wallet transaction, a transaction from a cellular or otherportable device, an automated teller machine (ATM) transactions, etc. Assuch, information gathered from such “remote locations” may be used toupdate the customer's identity profile (process block 115).

In one embodiment, if the customer is using a cellular telephone (orpersonal digital assistant (PDA)) to complete a remote transaction, thecustomer's phone number, account number, and any other personalinformation associated with the cellular account may be captured andupdated within the customer's identity profile. Additionally, if acustomer initiates a web-based money transfer (or other financialtransaction), the customer's internet protocol (IP) address, internetprovider, web profile account information, etc. may be collected andused to update the customer's identity profile.

In a further embodiment, “remote transactions” effect the customer'sconfidence score in a different way than “physical transaction” asdescribed above. For example, an online “card not present” transactionwould increase the customer's identity confidence score by very littledue to the fact that a minimal amount of identity checking occurs.Whereas, an e-wallet transaction which requires, for example, a login,password, security questions, etc. would provide a greater increase inthe customer's identity confidence score. Furthermore, the moresuccessful remote transactions the customer engages in over time, thegreater the increase in the customer's identity confidence score.Additionally, the increase in the confidence score may be a cumulativeincrease, or alternatively, the increase may be an exponential increase,nonetheless, as a customer has positive identity interactions theidentity confidence score will increase, and as the customer hasnegative identity interactions the identity score will decrease.

At process block 120, based on the information gathered and stored ineach of the customer's identity profiles, an identity confidence scoremay be generated. Such a score may be based on a variety of factors. Forexample, each customer may start with a base score (e.g., 500 points)and each new piece of identity information added to their identityprofile may leave the same, add to, or subtract from the identityconfidence score. For example, each instance of a successful transactionmay add five points to the score. Each transaction over a certainmonetary amount may add ten points to the score. Furthermore, eachsuccessful identity verification may add additional points to the score.

Similarly, each unsuccessful transaction may subtract ten points fromthe identity confidence score, or each unsuccessful identityverification may deduct fifty points from the score. Furthermore,certain types of identity information may have a greater weight thanother types of identity information. For example, identity verificationattempts (either successful or unsuccessful) may have a greater weightthan the customer's IP address. Accordingly, the identity confidencescore may be generated as a weighted summed total of all the identityinformation included in the customer's profile such that the morepositive identity information the higher the customer's score would be,and similarly the more negative identity information the lower thescore.

At process block 125, reports may be generated for each customeridentity profile which would include the identity confidence score.Thus, based on the reported score, each customer may be granted acertain level of access for performing financial transactions. Forexample, each customer with a score over 700 points is able to initiatemoney transfers at any monetary amount and from any remote or physicallocation. In contrast, each customer at 200 points or lower are onlyallowed to initiate transactions below a set monetary amount, and canonly initiate transactions at a physical location. Accordingly, asconfidence in a customer is increased, that customer is grantedadditional privileges with fewer restrictions; and, conversely, as theconfidence score decreases, the customer has privileges removed and morerestrictions applied.

Referring now to FIG. 2, which illustrates a method 200 of utilizationof an accumulation of identity transaction in order to generate identityconfidence scores, according to one embodiment of the present invention.At process block 205, a customer's identity may be verified at acustomer service (or agent) location. Such a verification process mayinclude checking the customers ID, checking a cellular telephone bill orthe like, verifying a government identification number or card, etc. Inone embodiment, any identity information may be utilized in order toverify the identity of the customer.

As described above the identity information presented at the agentlocation would be gathered and transmitted and stored in an identityprofile for the customer. At process block 210, based on proper andsuccessful identification of the customer, a customer account may beactivated. The customer account may be activated on a provisional orlimited basis in order to allow for the gathering of additional identityinformation as well as allowing for a history with the customer to bedeveloped.

At process block 215, the financial transaction may be processed. Forexample, the transaction may be a money transfer, a request for money, apurchase of a stored value card, loading additional value on a storedvalue card, etc. Nonetheless, any type of financial transaction may beprocessed. The customer may then be granted the ability to generatetransaction requests of a certain type and/or up to a certain amount. Inother words, the customer's account may have various restrictions placedon it, based on the limited identity information gathered about thecustomer.

Furthermore, transaction requests for the customer may be monitored toidentify whether a transaction has exceeded a threshold (process block220). In one embodiment, the threshold may be a transaction amountthreshold, a transaction destination location, a number of transactionsthreshold, etc. The threshold may be utilized to “flag” certaintransaction requests as needing additional verification prior toexecuting the transaction.

At process block 225, based on the identification of a transactionrequest which exceeds the threshold, the customer may be sent a requestto re-verify their identity at, for example, an agent location. Thetransaction may be locked until the customer properly re-verifies theiridentity. The request may be, for example, a short message service (SMS)text message indicating that the customer needs to re-verify theiridentity. Alternatively, the request may be an email message, a voicemail message, etc. indicating the re-verification requirement. In analternate embodiment, the request may simply include a “challenge”question such as, the customer's date of birth, the customer's address,etc. which, if answered correctly, may be sufficient forre-verification. The type of re-verification required may be based onthe customer's identity confidence score (i.e., the higher the score,the less strict the re-verification process; the lower the score, themore strict).

At decision block 230, a determination is made whether the customer hasproperly re-verified their identity (i.e., has the customer visited anagent location, did the customer properly answer the challengequestions, etc.). If the customer fails to properly re-verify theiridentity then, at process block 235, a hold may be placed on thecustomer's account. Accordingly, the current transaction as well as anysubsequent transactions would be denied until the customer properlyre-verifies their identity.

Alternatively, if the customer does successfully re-verify theiridentity then, at process block 240, the current transaction would beexecuted, and service to the account would continue. In one embodiment,the customer's options may be increased and the limitations decreased.Furthermore, based on the additional identity information received froma successful re-verification, an unsuccessful re-verification, or nore-verification attempt, the customer's identity confidence score may beupdated accordingly (process block 245). Hence, each piece of identityinformation, and each transaction may be utilized to maintain anaccurate identity confidence score for each customer.

In an alternative embodiment, a third-party mobile network operator(MNO) (i.e., Vodafone, Smart communications, Att, Globe, etc.) may beable to utilize the customer confidence and verification data to verifytheir customers' identities. For example, MNO would enter into anagreement with the identity gathering entity to utilize such identityconfidence information to verify the identities of their customers. Forexample, if the MNO desires to add a new customer, the customer mightfirst be directed to an agent location for the identity gathering entitywhere the customer would be asked to present identification, thecellular device, etc. Then, based on the information (if any) storedabout the new customer, a report to the MNO could be generatedindicating whether or not the new customer's identity could be verified.In essence, the identity gathering entity becomes an identity confidencebroker to third-party MNOs, by using the established infrastructure andcollected data to provide a level of confidence regarding the newcustomer's identity.

Turning now to FIG. 3, which illustrates a system 300 for managingidentity related information and generating an identity confidencescoring system, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Inone embodiment, system 300 may include a processing center 305, whichmay further include an identity scoring engine 310 and a database 315.Identity scoring engine 310 may be used to generate an identityconfidence score for each customer based on information received abouteach customer.

In one embodiment, database 315 may be configured to store a customeridentity profile for each customer with identity information associatedwith each profile. Alternatively, database 315 may be an aggregation ofidentity information gathered from many different sources. Identityscoring engine 310 may be granted access to the identity informationstored in database 315 in order to generate an identity confidence scorefor each customer. In a further embodiment, system 300 may furtherinclude local channels 320, remote channels 325, as well as cellularprovider 330, banking network 335, and external customer database 340.

In one embodiment, local channels 320 may include locations in whichcustomer interactions are carried out in person. For example, at acustomer service location, an agent location, a utilities office, a bankbranch location, etc. In one embodiment, local channels 320 may be usedto gather identity information about customers, to verify (or re-verify)customer identities, and process transaction requests. Furthermore,local channels 320 may be coupled with processing center 305 in order tosend and receive identity and other information about customers andcustomer transactions.

In a further embodiment, the customer's SIM card may be used to recordwhen and what identification has been checked for the customer. Further,a mobile devices' camera (or other recording apparatus) may be used tophotograph the sender and/or sender's ID which may then be included inidentity database 315. as such, an additional layer of confidence may beplaced in the customer's identity. Additionally, automatic numberidentification (ANI), or the like may be captured for the customer andstored in identity database 315.

In a further embodiment, remote channels 325 may include web-basedinteractions (e.g., transactions through a web browser, a PDA browser,etc.), mobile transactions (e.g., cellular device transactions, PDAtransactions, etc.), ATMs, kiosks, etc. Information retrieved fromremote channels 325 may be transmitted to processing center 305 in orderto be stored in database 315 and processed by identity score engine 310.

Furthermore, cellular provider 330 may be coupled with processing center305 in order to transmit customer identity information to processingcenter 305. For example, cellular provider 330 may enter into anagreement with processing center 305 to share their customers' identityinformation. As such, processing center 305 may utilize, for example,the customers' content information, cellular telephone number, billpayment history, amount of time with cellular provider 330, etc.Furthermore, processing center 305 may utilize the cellular number asfurther identification for the customers. In a further embodiment, thecustomers' may have a mobile wallet or the like associated with thecellular account/number, which may be used by processing center 305 tocollect additional identity information.

In an alternative embodiment, cellular provider 330 may be anotherutility provider (e.g., a power company, a gas company, an Internetprovider, etc.). Furthermore, cellular provider 330 may alternatively beanother service provider, such as, an insurance provider, a mortgagecompany, an auto loan company, etc. As such, processing center 305 isconfigured to gather identity information for any source in order togenerate the most accurate customer identity confidence scores.

Similar to cellular provider 330, processing center 305 may be coupledwith banking network 335 and external customer database 340. As withcellular provider 330, banking network 335 may be configured to sharecustomer identity information with processing center 305. Alternatively,banking network 335 may be any financial network or entity (e.g., acredit network, a stored value network, a micro loan service, etc.).Furthermore, external customer database 340 may also be configured toshare identity information with processing center 305. External customerdatabase 340 may be configured to gather various pieces of customerinformation and store it in a centralized location. Accordingly,processing center 305 may be configured to gather any identityinformation from any available source, in order to present identityconfidence scores for each customer.

Such identification may be used for identity verification in a varietyof situations. For example, in initiating money transfers, billpayments, when applying for a loan (or other financial services, accountbased or non-account-based), applying for a government-issued ID orpassport, employment verification, etc. Furthermore, such transactionmay be performed through any channel (e.g., via a mobile device, on theInternet, over the phone, in person, etc.).

FIG. 4 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 400 that can perform the methods of the invention, as describedherein, and/or can function as, for example, processing center 305 inFIG. 3. It should be noted that FIG. 4 is meant only to provide ageneralized illustration of various components, any or all of which maybe utilized as appropriate. FIG. 4, therefore, broadly illustrates howindividual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separatedor relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 400 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 405 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements can include one ormore processors 410, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration chips,and/or the like); one or more input devices 415, which can includewithout limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and one or moreoutput devices 420, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 425, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. The computer system 400 might alsoinclude a communications subsystem 430, which can include withoutlimitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-redcommunication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset(such as a Bluetooth™ device, an 802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMaxdevice, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. Thecommunications subsystem 430 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as the network described below, to name one example),and/or any other devices described herein. In many embodiments, thecomputer system 400 will further comprise a working memory 435, whichcan include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 400 also can comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 435, including anoperating system 440 and/or other code, such as one or more applicationprograms 445, which may comprise computer programs of the invention,and/or may be designed to implement methods of the invention and/orconfigure systems of the invention, as described herein. Merely by wayof example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethod(s) discussed above might be implemented as code and/orinstructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within acomputer). A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on acomputer readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 425described above. In some cases, the storage medium might be incorporatedwithin a computer system, such as the system 400. In other embodiments,the storage medium might be separate from a computer system (e.g., aremovable medium, such as a compact disc, etc.), and or provided in aninstallation package, such that the storage medium can be used toprogram a general purpose computer with the instructions/code storedthereon. These instructions might take the form of executable code,which is executable by the computer system 400 and/or might take theform of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/orinstallation on the computer system 400 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.) then takes the form ofexecutable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

In one aspect, the invention employs a computer system (such as thecomputer system 400) to perform methods of the invention. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 400 in response to processor 410executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 440 and/or other code, such asan application program 445) contained in the working memory 435. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 435 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)425. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 435 might cause theprocessor(s) 410 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium”, asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 400, various machine-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 425. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 435. Transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise the bus 405, as well as the various components ofthe communication subsystem 430 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 430 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 400. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 430 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals) to theworking memory 435, from which the processor(s) 405 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 435 may optionally be stored on a storage device 425 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 410.

A set of embodiments comprises systems for managing an identityinformation and generating an identity confidence scoring system. Merelyby way of example, FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a system500 that can be used in accordance with one set of embodiments. Thesystem 500 can include one or more user computers 505. The usercomputers 505 can be general purpose personal computers (including,merely by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computersrunning any appropriate flavor of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows™ (e.g.,Vista™) and/or Apple Corp.'s Macintosh™ operating systems) and/orworkstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-availableUNIX™ or UNIX-like operating systems. These user computers 505 can alsohave any of a variety of applications, including one or moreapplications configured to perform methods of the invention, as well asone or more office applications, database client and/or serverapplications, and web browser applications. Alternatively, the usercomputers 505 can be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digitalassistant (PDA), capable of communicating via a network (e.g., thenetwork 510 described below) and/or displaying and navigating web pagesor other types of electronic documents. Although the exemplary system500 is shown with three user computers 505, any number of user computerscan be supported.

Certain embodiments of the invention operate in a networked environment,which can include a network 510. The network 510 can be any type ofnetwork familiar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, andthe like. Merely by way of example, the network 510 can be a local areanetwork (“LAN”), including without limitation an Ethernet network, aToken-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network (WAN); a virtualnetwork, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”);the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephonenetwork (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, includingwithout limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, and/or anyother wireless protocol; and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

Embodiments of the invention can include one or more server computers515. Each of the server computers 515 may be configured with anoperating system, including without limitation any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially (or freely) available serveroperating systems. Each of the servers 515 may also be running one ormore applications, which can be configured to provide services to one ormore clients 505 and/or other servers 515.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 515 may be a web server,which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requests for webpages or other electronic documents from user computers 505. The webserver can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java™ servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 505 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 515, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can include one or more applicationsaccessible by a client running on one or more of the client computers505 and/or other servers 515. Merely by way of example, the server(s)515 can be one or more general purpose computers capable of executingprograms or scripts in response to the user computers 505 and/or otherservers 515, including without limitation web applications (which might,in some cases, be configured to perform methods of the invention).Merely by way of example, a web application can be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any suitable programming language,such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or any scripting language, such asPerl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of anyprogramming/scripting languages. The application server(s) can alsoinclude database servers, including without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle™, Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and thelike, which can process requests from clients (including, depending onthe configuration, database clients, API clients, web browsers, etc.)running on a user computer 505 and/or another server 515. In someembodiments, an application server can create web pages dynamically fordisplaying the information in accordance with embodiments of theinvention, such as remote channels 325 in FIG. 3. Data provided by anapplication server may be formatted as web pages (comprising HTML,Javascript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwarded to a usercomputer 505 via a web server (as described above, for example).Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/or inputdata from a user computer 505 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases, a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 515 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementmethods of the invention incorporated by an application running on auser computer 505 and/or another server 515. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer 505 and/or server 515. It should be noted that thefunctions described with respect to various servers herein (e.g.,application server, database server, web server, file server, etc.) canbe performed by a single server and/or a plurality of specializedservers, depending on implementation-specific needs and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases520. The location of the database(s) 520 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 520 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 515 a (and/or a user computer 505).Alternatively, a database 520 b can be remote from any or all of thecomputers 505, 515, so long as the database can be in communication(e.g., via the network 510) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 520 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 505, 515can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 520 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle™ database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerousmodifications are possible. For example, the methods and processesdescribed herein may be implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, and/or any combination thereof. Further, while variousmethods and processes described herein may be described with respect toparticular structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods of the invention are not limited to any particularstructural and/or functional architecture but instead can be implementedon any suitable hardware, firmware and/or software configuration.Similarly, while various functionality is ascribed to certain systemcomponents, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionalitycan be distributed among various other system components in accordancewith different embodiments of the invention.

Moreover, while the procedures comprised in the methods and processesdescribed herein are described in a particular order for ease ofdescription, unless the context dictates otherwise, various proceduresmay be reordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Moreover, the procedures described withrespect to one method or process may be incorporated within otherdescribed methods or processes; likewise, system components describedaccording to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect toone system may be organized in alternative structural architecturesand/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while variousembodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease ofdescription and to illustrate exemplary features, the various componentsand/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodimentcan be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among other describedembodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently,although the invention has been described with respect to exemplaryembodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended tocover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of establishing an identity confidencescore, the method comprising: receiving, at a computer system, a firstset of user identity information based on a physical transactioninitiated by a user in person at a physical transaction location,wherein the first set of identity information is collected by acomputing device operating at the physical location, wherein the firstset of user identity information comprises the physical location, aphysical form of identification presented by the user during thephysical transaction and a physical transaction type; receiving, at thecomputer system, a second set of user identity information based on aremote transaction initiated by the user using a mobile deviceassociated with the user, where the remote transaction requires the userto transmit at least one electronic form of identification via themobile device through an electronic medium, wherein the second set ofuser identity information comprises a remote transaction location, anelectronic form of identification presented by the user through anelectronic medium during the remote transaction and a remote transactiontype, wherein the second set of user identity information, including theremote transaction location, the electronic form of identification, andthe remote transaction type, is stored on a SIM card of the mobiledevice associated with the user; determining, at the computer system, afirst reliability of the first set of user identity information based atleast on the first set of user identity information; determining, at thecomputer system, a second reliability of the second set of user identityinformation based at least on the second set of user identityinformation; based on the first reliability of the first set of useridentity information, and the second reliability of the set of useridentity information, generating, at the computer system, an identityconfidence score associated with the user; receiving, by the computersystem, a request to perform a second remote transaction initiated bythe user; determining, by the computer system, whether or not to permitthe second remote transaction to be performed, based on a comparison ofthe identity confidence score associated with the user to a threshold;and in response to determining that the identity confidence scoreassociated with the user exceeds a threshold, causing the second remotetransaction to be performed.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: increasing the identity confidence score associated with theuser, based on a positive identity transaction comprising one or more ofthe following: a successful ID check, a non-fraudulent transaction, anda successful ID verification; and decreasing the identity confidencescore associated with the user, based on a negative identity transactioncomprising one or more of the following: a fraudulent transaction, acharge-back, and an unsuccessful ID verification.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein receiving the request to perform the second remotetransaction and causing the second remote transaction to be performedincludes interacting with one or more of the following electronicmediums: a mobile device interface, a website interface, and atelephone.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the firstreliability of the first set of user identify information is based onone or more of the following: a number of physical transactionsinitiated by the user, a monetary amount of the physical transactions,and a relationship duration with the user; and wherein determining thesecond reliability of the second set of user identify information isbased on one or more of the following: a number of remote transactionsinitiated by the user, a monetary amount of the remote transactions, anda relationship duration with the user.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining that the remote transaction was initiated via amobile telephone associated with the user; wherein the second set ofuser identity information includes a telephone number of the mobiletelephone at which the remote transaction was initiated, and wherein thesecond reliability of the second set of user identify information isdetermined based on the telephone number of the mobile telephone atwhich the remote transaction was initiated.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining that the remote transaction wasinitiated by the user via a web-based application; wherein the secondset of identity information includes an internet protocol (IP) addressand internet provider received via the web-based application, andwherein the second reliability of the second set of user identifyinformation is determined based on the internet protocol (IP) addressand internet provider received via the web-based application.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein receiving the second set of user identityinformation comprises receiving image data captured and transmitted viathe mobile device associated with the user during the remotetransaction.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningthat the remote transaction was initiated via a specialized transactionkiosk or an automated teller machine, wherein receiving the second setof user identity information comprises receiving user data captured andtransmitted via the specialized transaction kiosk or automated tellermachine.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the second set ofuser identity information comprises: capturing a mobile number of themobile device associated with the user, using automatic numberidentification (ANI); and storing the mobile number of the mobile deviceassociated with the user in an identity database.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining whether or not to permit the second remotetransaction to be performed further comprises: determining a secondlocation of the mobile device in response to the request to perform thesecond remote transaction; comparing the second location of the mobiledevice with a location threshold; and determining whether or not topermit the second remote transaction to be performed, based on thecomparison of the second location of the mobile device to the locationthreshold.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the secondreliability of the second set of user identity information furthercomprises: retrieving data from a cellular provider server including oneor more of content information associated with the user, a cellulartelephone number associated with the user, a bill payment historyassociated with the user, or an amount of time with the cellularprovider associated with the user; and determining the secondreliability of the second set of user identity information, based on thedata received from the cellular provider server.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein determining the second reliability of the second set of useridentity information further comprises: retrieving data from athird-party mobile network operator (MNO) relating to mobile networkusage of the user; and determining the second reliability of the secondset of user identity information, based on the data received from theMNO.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein identity confidence scoreassociated with the user is based on the physical transaction type andthe remote transaction type.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: in response to the request to perform the second remotetransaction, selecting one of a plurality of re-verification processesfor the user, wherein the selection of the re-verification process isbased on the identity confidence score associated with the user; andexecuting the selected re-verification process for the user, prior todetermining whether or not to permit the second remote transaction to beperformed.
 15. A system of maintaining an identity confidence system,the system comprising: a computer processor; and a storage device incommunication with the computer processor and having sets ofinstructions stored thereon, wherein the sets of instructions whenexecuted by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to:receive a first set of user identity information based on a physicaltransaction initiated by a user in person at a physical transactionlocation, wherein the first set of identity information is collected bya computing device operating at the physical location, wherein the firstset of user identity information comprises the physical location, aphysical form of identification presented by the user during thephysical transaction, and a physical transaction type; receive a secondset of user identity information, based on a remote transactioninitiated by the user using a mobile device associated with the user,where the remote transaction requires the user to transmit at least oneelectronic form of identification via the mobile device through anelectronic medium, wherein the second set of user identity informationcomprises a remote transaction location, an electronic form ofidentification presented by the user through an electronic medium duringthe remote transaction and a remote transaction type, wherein the secondset of user identity information, including the remote transactionlocation, the electronic form of identification, and the remotetransaction type, is stored on a SIM card of the mobile deviceassociated with the user; determine a first reliability of the first setof user identity information based at least on the first set of useridentity information; determine a second reliability of the second setof user identify information based at least on the second set of useridentity information; based on the first reliability of the first set ofuser identity information and the second reliability of the set of useridentity information, generate an identity confidence score associatedwith the user; receive a request to perform a second remote transactioninitiated by the user; determine whether or not to permit the secondremote transaction to be performed, based on a comparison of theidentity confidence score associated with the user to a threshold; andin response to determining that the identity confidence score associatedwith the user exceeds a threshold, cause the second remote transactionto be performed.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the system isfurther configured to, based on the user failing to respond to averification request, placing a notation in an account of the user. 17.The system of claim 15, wherein the sets of instructions when executedby the computer processor, further cause the computer processor to:determine that the remote transaction was initiated via a mobiletelephone associated with the user; wherein the second set of useridentity information includes a telephone number of the mobile telephoneat which the remote transaction was initiated, and wherein the secondreliability of the second set of user identify information is determinedbased on the telephone number of the mobile telephone at which theremote transaction was initiated.
 18. The system of claim 15, whereinthe sets of instructions when executed by the computer processor,further cause the computer processor to: determine that the remotetransaction was initiated by the user via a web-based application;wherein the second set of identity information includes an internetprotocol (IP) address and internet provider received via the web-basedapplication, and wherein the second reliability of the second set ofuser identify information is determined based on the internet protocol(IP) address and internet provider received via the web-basedapplication.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a setof instructions stored thereon for establishing an identity confidencedatabase which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:receive a first set of user identity information based on a physicaltransaction initiated by a user in person at a physical transactionlocation, wherein the first set of identity information is collected bya computing device operating at the physical location, wherein the firstset of user identity information comprises the physical location, aphysical form of identification presented by the user during thephysical transaction, and a physical transaction type; receive a secondset of user identity information, based on a remote transactioninitiated by the user using a mobile device associated with the user,where the remote transaction requires the user to transmit at least oneelectronic form of identification via the mobile device through anelectronic medium, wherein the second set of user identity informationcomprises a remote transaction location, an electronic form ofidentification presented by the user through an electronic medium duringthe remote transaction and a remote transaction type, wherein the secondset of user identity information, including the remote transactionlocation, the electronic form of identification, and the remotetransaction type, is stored on a SIM card of the mobile deviceassociated with the user; determine a first reliability of the first setof user identity information based at least on the physical transactionlocation and the physical transaction type; determine a secondreliability of the second set of user identify information based atleast on the remote transaction location and the remote transactiontype; determine a first reliability of the first set of user identityinformation based at least on the first set of user identityinformation; determine a second reliability of the second set of useridentify information based at least on the second set of user identityinformation; based on the first reliability of the first set of identityinformation and the second reliability of the set of identityinformation, generate an identity confidence score associated with theuser; receive a request to perform a second remote transaction initiatedby the user; based on the first set of user identity information and thesecond set of user identity information, generate an identity confidencescore associated with the user; receive a request to perform a secondremote transaction initiated by the user; determine whether or not topermit the second remote transaction to be performed, based on acomparison of the identity confidence score associated with the user toa threshold; and in response to determining that the identity confidencescore associated with the user exceeds a threshold, cause the secondremote transaction to be performed.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the generating of theidentity confidence score further comprises instructions which, whenexecuted by the computer, cause the computer to weight the user identityinformation, and based on the weighting generate a weighted identityconfidence score associated with each of a plurality of users.